Juvenile probation professionals know better than most the multitude and complexity of issues our justice-involved youth are facing, and what puts these young men and women at risk for violence. Get IN Chicago, as a youth violence prevention funder working to support the most effective and promising interventions in Chicago, wanted to better understand the youth probation population to inform quality service provision.

Toward that end we commissioned Chapin Hall at the University of Chicago to conduct a study of youth entering probation in Chicago, which included identifying characteristics of youth involved in firearms violence while on probation. By examining aspects of their developmental history prior to entering probation, and reporting on their outcomes during adolescence and emerging adulthood, a clear set of commonalities emerged.

The study divided probation youth into subclasses based on previous involvement with the justice system: chronic, violent offences; chronic, nonviolent offenses, and first-time violent offenses. The chronic, violent offenses subclass profile emerged as the most accurate correlation with future involvement in gun violence. Youth in this class exhibited the following characteristics:

[For more on this story by Toni Irving, go to https://jjie.org/2018/10/26/di...s-with-risk-factors/]